Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett at the
Villager Mall:
Multicultural Candidacy
Villager Mall:
Multicultural Candidacy
Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett with people who
attended a reception in his honor at The Atrium in the Vollager Mall May
3rd. Above right: Lieutenant governor candidate Mahlon Mitchell in front
of the Wisconsin State Capitol
attended a reception in his honor at The Atrium in the Vollager Mall May
3rd. Above right: Lieutenant governor candidate Mahlon Mitchell in front
of the Wisconsin State Capitol
By Jonathan Gramling
When the smoke cleared after the Democratic recall primary on May 8,
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett had received the gubernatorial nomination
and Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin President Mahlon Mitchell had
received the lieutenant governor nomination. Their Democratic opponents
quickly endorsed their candidacy as they face Governor Scott Walker and
Lieutenant Rebecca Kleefisch respectively.
On May 2, members of Madison’s communities of color turned out at The
Atrium in the Villager Mall to hear Barrett talk about the issues facing
Wisconsin. And one of the biggest issues in Barrett’s view id the divisions
that pit Wisconsinite against Wisconsinite.
“I consider what we’ve gone through in the last 16 months Scott Walker’s
Civil War,” Barrett said. “What I want to do as governor is focus on restoring
the trust of this government. I’m going to work on healing the deep divisions
that we have in this state. I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve never seen the
situation where neighbors don’t want to talk to neighbors, where you have
When the smoke cleared after the Democratic recall primary on May 8,
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett had received the gubernatorial nomination
and Professional Fire Fighters of Wisconsin President Mahlon Mitchell had
received the lieutenant governor nomination. Their Democratic opponents
quickly endorsed their candidacy as they face Governor Scott Walker and
Lieutenant Rebecca Kleefisch respectively.
On May 2, members of Madison’s communities of color turned out at The
Atrium in the Villager Mall to hear Barrett talk about the issues facing
Wisconsin. And one of the biggest issues in Barrett’s view id the divisions
that pit Wisconsinite against Wisconsinite.
“I consider what we’ve gone through in the last 16 months Scott Walker’s
Civil War,” Barrett said. “What I want to do as governor is focus on restoring
the trust of this government. I’m going to work on healing the deep divisions
that we have in this state. I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve never seen the
situation where neighbors don’t want to talk to neighbors, where you have
co-workers who can’t talk to co-workers. I was at an event a few weeks ago and this woman
came up to me and said, ‘Don’t forget wedding receptions.’ She said that she had been to three
wedding receptions last year and every one of them broke out into an argument. That’s because
he has people at each other’s throats. That’s because Governor Walker loves to divide and
conquer, a divide and conquer strategy that has worked for him up to this point. But I think the
people of this state are now on to this.”
For the past several election cycles, Wisconsin has been known as a battleground state. And in
the ideological civil war that is being waged in America, Wisconsin has become a battleground.
“Think about our democracy,” Barrett said. “Walker raised $13 million in three and a half
months. Seventy percent of that money comes from out-of-state in chunks of $500,000 and
$250,000 and $100,000. Do you think those people who wrote those checks care at all about
what is going on in Madison or Mauston or Marsfield? This is all about this national movement
to try and go after the working people in this country, to go after the women in this country, to
make it more difficult for people to support their families. And we see this at a time when we
see a growing income gap in this country rather than one where middle class people can
support their families.”
While Walker has passed many divisive policies including the effective ability for public
workers to collectively bargain, Barrett feels that it is the economy and the job outlook that will
decide the election.
“I think it is really going to be the jobs that people are going to focus on because under his
leadership, this state, for the first time that I could discover in its history — we’ve looked and
looked and looked — that there has been another year when Wisconsin lost more jobs than any
other state,” Barrett emphasized. “We couldn’t find it. In 2011, we lost more jobs than any other
state in this country. And between March 2011 and March 2012, we were the only state in this
country to lose jobs. Why did we lose the jobs? Well the reason is pretty obvious. He took his
eye off the prize. When we were candidates in 2010, he said he was going to focus on jobs. But
he decided to put his energies into the divisive political civil war that he started and we
came up to me and said, ‘Don’t forget wedding receptions.’ She said that she had been to three
wedding receptions last year and every one of them broke out into an argument. That’s because
he has people at each other’s throats. That’s because Governor Walker loves to divide and
conquer, a divide and conquer strategy that has worked for him up to this point. But I think the
people of this state are now on to this.”
For the past several election cycles, Wisconsin has been known as a battleground state. And in
the ideological civil war that is being waged in America, Wisconsin has become a battleground.
“Think about our democracy,” Barrett said. “Walker raised $13 million in three and a half
months. Seventy percent of that money comes from out-of-state in chunks of $500,000 and
$250,000 and $100,000. Do you think those people who wrote those checks care at all about
what is going on in Madison or Mauston or Marsfield? This is all about this national movement
to try and go after the working people in this country, to go after the women in this country, to
make it more difficult for people to support their families. And we see this at a time when we
see a growing income gap in this country rather than one where middle class people can
support their families.”
While Walker has passed many divisive policies including the effective ability for public
workers to collectively bargain, Barrett feels that it is the economy and the job outlook that will
decide the election.
“I think it is really going to be the jobs that people are going to focus on because under his
leadership, this state, for the first time that I could discover in its history — we’ve looked and
looked and looked — that there has been another year when Wisconsin lost more jobs than any
other state,” Barrett emphasized. “We couldn’t find it. In 2011, we lost more jobs than any other
state in this country. And between March 2011 and March 2012, we were the only state in this
country to lose jobs. Why did we lose the jobs? Well the reason is pretty obvious. He took his
eye off the prize. When we were candidates in 2010, he said he was going to focus on jobs. But
he decided to put his energies into the divisive political civil war that he started and we
“Yesterday there was a poll and what I found amazing about this — it’s
important to keep these numbers in perspective — he raised $12 million last
year and in the first three months of this year, he raised another $13 million,”
Barrett said. “So he has raised $25 million. He has spent $20.5 million. I have
spent a little under $1 million. 20-1 is the ratio. He should be crushing me like
an elephant crushes an ant. But yesterday, this poll was released that
showed me leading him by one point. I think even conservatives and
independents in this state, their eyebrows had to go up when they realized
that 70 percent of this guy’s money is coming from people who have no
interest in this state at all, that they are just ideological warriors. And
Wisconsin doesn’t like that. What we’ve seen so far is the reason I’m leading
in the polls is we are connecting with people. We’re connecting with people
because we are being honest about what our priorities are. We’re going to
restore Wisconsin values.”
Mahlon Mitchell has also been crisscrossing the state. While it felt good to
win the primary, Mitchell had no time to relish the victory and he immediately
hit the campaign trail. Mitchell feels that their message is being well-
received.
“We’re talking about college education and poverty,” Mitchell said in a phone
interview from Delavan, Wisconsin. “At the end of the day, it’s going to be
about people wanting to take back the middle class. What Walker stands for
right now is giving tax breaks to corporations and balancing the budget on
the backs of the middle class. We just can’t have that anymore in our state.”
Mitchell stressed that it is grassroots activism that is going to make the
difference in this race.
“It’s close right now,” Mitchell said. “At the end of the day, it’s going to be
about getting people out to vote and making sure our message gets out there.
We have to get people out there and make sure their voices get heard.
People died for us to have the right to vote. You have to make sure you get
out to vote on June 5.”
For more information about or to donate to Mahlon Mitchell’s candidacy, visit
his website at www.mahlonmitchell.com.
suffered. We as a state suffered. In 2011, every single month, this country gained jobs. And Wisconsin went directly in the opposite direction. If we just
mirrored the national average, we would have 60,000 more jobs than what we have. But he was never interested in this. It’s always been the ideology. It’
s always been his goal to be the national poster boy for the far right movement in this country. And he has succeeded in doing that beyond his wildest
dreams.”
But while Walker has been successful in attracting national attention, his message has not resounded well with many Wisconsinites. Although he has
blanketed the airways for months with advertising, the gubernatorial race is very competitive.
mirrored the national average, we would have 60,000 more jobs than what we have. But he was never interested in this. It’s always been the ideology. It’
s always been his goal to be the national poster boy for the far right movement in this country. And he has succeeded in doing that beyond his wildest
dreams.”
But while Walker has been successful in attracting national attention, his message has not resounded well with many Wisconsinites. Although he has
blanketed the airways for months with advertising, the gubernatorial race is very competitive.